July 8

I'm grateful for summer dinners of bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches. Not only are they nice and easy (and don't heat up the kitchen), but the tomatoes this time of year are to die for.

July 7

I'm grateful Hart always allows the last year's sunflower seeds to grow to maturity in the garden. The splotches of yellow, orange and red are so lovely in the evening light!

July 6

I'm grateful that my sweetie and I suddenly found ourselves with a couple free hours on a Thursday evening and were able to retire downstairs to watch a movie together.

July 5

I'm grateful Mom left her most excellent orzo salad at my house on the Fourth of July. Sitting overnight in my fridge made its flavors mosh even more and it was absolutely delicious for dinner tonight!

Mom's Outstanding Orzo Salad

1.5 cups dry orzo pasta
1 lb fresh stringed and snapped green beans
2-3 ears of corn
2 cups cherry tomatos

Cook pasta according to the package directions. Blanch green beans for five minutes. Cut kernels off the cobs of corn. Mix all the vegetables and pasta together and whisk up the lovely, light dressing:

1/2 cup white wine vinegar (or rice vinegar)
1/2 cup EVOO
2 Tbsp dijon mustard
2 Tbsp fresh dill
1/2 cup finely chopped green onions
salt and pepper, to taste

Let sit in the fridge overnight to mosh and share with all of your friends and family!

July 4

I'm grateful for little girl friendships and sparklers in the night.

July 3

Tonight I seeded and deveined 18 jalapeno peppers in preparation for my Fourth of July poppers. However, I made the mistake of leaving off the plastic gloves and within a few minutes of finishing the task, my right hand was on fire. I tried an application of Lanacaine and it lasted for about 8 seconds before the pain set in again. So in desperation I hacked off one of the leaves of my aloe vera plant.

I'm grateful for its snot-like sticky innards. They cooled that burn down and though the relief wasn't instant, it still came quickly.

July 2

Since this past Thursday, I've been trying without much success to get Luke to clean his room.

I'm grateful that the promise of setting off a 6-pack of Fourth-of-July smoke bombs finally managed to keep this budding pyro on task.